Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Marvelous Mark - Crushin' LP - Yellow Vinyl (/100)

Drunken Sailor (2016)

We're pretty deep into February at this point and you may have noticed that there has been a severe lack of new releases featured on this website. I'm not sure if the year is off to a slow start in general, or if I'm just being extra picky this year. It's probably a combination of the two, but I can say without hesitation that this Marvelous Mark record is the first really great album that I've heard this year.

Marvelous Mark used to play in one of my favorite bands, Marvelous Darlings. Though they are sadly missed I can take solace in the fact that Mark has churned out a pretty great little record on his own. While Marvelous Mark is missing some of the balls to the wall energy and the swagger of Marvelous Darlings, he appears to have won custody of all of the hooks.

Each song on this record is a perfect little guitar pop masterpiece. Though everything is pretty mid tempo, the album has a perfect lazy Sunday afternoon vibe to them. If I had a porch and a lawn chair, all I would need is a glass of lemonade and this record and you could color me a happy dude.

This record reminds me a bit of some of that 90's major label rock that I like so much; the slower moments of Fig Dish or maybe even Pluto with a fuzzier sound and a smaller recording budget. No matter the reference you want to throw at Crushin', it can simply be said that this is a very good record and one that I've been listening to pretty nonstop since I picked it up.